Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: Why is cheating in online games seemingly so prevelant? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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What do these people think they gain?

Whats the point?

Do they really just want to ruin stuff for everyone?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I'm also nostalgic for the era where cheats were easter eggs that enhanced the single-player experience.

Like, as a kid I was interested in Warcraft/Starcraft, but I'm horrible at RTS gameplay. Cheats gave me an out so that I could enjoy the story.

Historically, cheats were essentially debug tools that the developer could use to, say, thoroughly play through a level with unlimited lives. But around the 90s/00s you started to see this shift away from using a complicated code of buttons to activate (Konami Code, IDDQD) to a simple to remember phrase ("PowerOverwhelming,""GiveUsATank," "GunsGunsGuns").

That shift makes me think that the cheats were for the players to enjoy. Otherwise they wouldn't have fun names to activate them.